MINA SMITH, WRITER & CREATOR

Tuning into the voice of your customers can help bridge the gap between what your customers want and what you are providing.

According to Consumer Experience Matters, "emotion is the component of customer experience that has the largest impact on loyalty." What your customers feel when they walk in the door, how they interact emotionally with your people and your brand, and how they perceive their experiences with your company has spawned a new hot keyword: Emotional Analytics.

Why is it important? Emotional connections between companies and their customers brings more value to the relationship between them. "For instance,"Tom Hoffman of 1to1 Media says, "in banking, a customer's desire to feel secure is a critical motivator for both attraction and retention. The study finds that "fully connected customers" or those that have an emotional connection to the companies they do business with are 52 percent more valuable than those customers that are just "highly satisfied."" The boost in numbers isn't a short term occurrence either; sharing emotional vibes with your fans helps to build longer, more valuable connections that have proven to bring in higher revenue. This connection is also a great source for improvements and new products you current customers want. When trust is built, consumers feel they are listened to. When they feel they are being listened to, the customer will share their ideas with you.

Emotional analytics will bring a whole new level of intimacy to web analytics in general. Although tracking the bounce rates for new versus returning customers will remain a valuable statistic, emotional analytics will begin to bridge the gap between the "what" and the "why" of you customer's interaction with your digital reputation.

Measuring emotional analytics can be done with tools you are already probably using. Google Analytics offers a variety of free and easy-to-make reports that measure interactions. How many people came from your Facebook page, retweeted that Tweet? Which channels get the most positive interaction and how do we focus on those in the future? Another great location for emotional analytics data comes from Facebook's Insight. iProspect sums up Insight's usefulness quite well: "If you have more than 30 Likes on your Facebook Page you can start measuring its performance with Insights. See total page Likes, number of fans, daily active users, new Likes/Unlikes, Like sources, demographics, page views and unique page views."

But probably the most effective tool you have in your arsenal to measure human interacts are the humans resources that might already be in your company. A good social media analyst can study social interactions and reviews for your company to help compile and use the data pulled from human interaction the best; since they can take into account. "There is no one-size-fits-all solution," says The Lean Brandauthor Jeremiah Gardner,"as the markers of interaction, participation and engagement will be different for each company, but you are limited only by your creativity. Customers inevitably will take some action to demonstrate that they have moved from one step to another in the emotional-value stream. Your job is to figure out which behavior that is and track it."

As millennials grow older and move into the position of potential consumers, most of whom were raised during the age of automation and digital distance, it becomes increasingly more important to stand out in the crowd. Making sure your customers know you care and know you read their comments will help to establish this meaningful relationship. Building up emotional and trusting relationships with customers is only going to get more important from here on out!

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